POPULAR FLORA. 
187 
20. RUE FAMILY. Order RUTACEiE- 
Strong-scented, sharp-tasted, and bitter- acrid plants, the leaves dotted with transparent 
dots like punctures (which are filled with volatile oil) ; the stamens on the receptacle, as 
many or twice as many as the petals. 
Herbs, very strong-scented, with perfect flowers. Stamens 8 or 10. 
Leaves decompound. Flowers yellow : petals concave. Pod roundish, ( Ruta ) * Rue. 
Leaves pinnate. Flowers white or purple, large : petals slender: stamens long. Pods 
5, flattened, slightly united, ( Dictamnus ) * Fraxinella. 
Shrubs or trees. Stamens 4 or 5, only as many as the petals. 
Flowers dioecious. Pistils 2 to 5, making fleshy pods with one or two black seeds. 
Leaves pinnate. Stems prickly, ( Zanthoxylum ) Prickly-Ash. 
Flowers polygamous. Pistil 1, making a 2-celled, 2-seeded key, winged all round. 
Leaflets 3. Stems not prickly, ( Pt'elea ) Hop-tree. 
27. SUMACH FAMILY. Order ANACARDIACEiE. 
Trees or shrubs with a milky or a resinous-acrid juice (in some cases poisonous), and al- 
ternate leaves : — of which we have only the genus 
Sumach. Rhus. 
Flowers small, greenish-white or yellowish. Sepals, petals, and stamens 5; the latter borne on an en- 
largement of the receptacle which fills the bottom of the calyx. Styles or stigmas 3, on a one-celled 
ovary, which makes a one-seeded little stone-fruit with a thin flesh. FI. summer. Nos. 4 and 6 are 
poisonous to most people when touched. 
1. Staghorn Sumach. Small tree ; branches and stalks velvety-hairy; leaves pinnate, pale be- 
neath; flowers and crimson-hairy sour fruit very many, in a great crowded panicle. R. typh'ma. 
2. SmoothS. Shrub; branches and stalks very smooth, pale : otherwise like the last. R. glabra. 
3. Dwarf S. Shrub 1° to 4° high; branches and stalks downy; leaves pinnate, with the stalk wing- 
margined between the shining leaflets ; fruits red and hairy. R. cqpallina. 
4. Poison S. or Dogwood. Shrub smooth; leaves pinnate; leaflets 7 to 13, entire; panicles slender 
in the axils; fruit smooth. Poisonous to most people. Swamps. R. venenata. 
5. Poison Ivy. Smooth ; stems climbing by rootlets ; leaflets 3, large, ovate, either entire, notched, or 
lobed, variable on the same stem. Poisonous like the last. R. Toxicodendron. 
6. Venetian S. or Smoke-tree. Shrub, with simple oval or obovate leaves; branches of the panicle 
lengthening after flowering, and feathered with long hairs, making large light bunches. Cult. 
R. Cotlnus. 
28. GRAPE FAMILY. Order VITACEAL 
Shrubby plants with a watery and sour juice, climbing by tendrils ; known by having a 
minute calyx with scarcely any lobes, the petals valvate (edge to edge) in the bud and fall- 
ing off very early, and the stamens (5 or 4) one before each petal ! — Only two genera. 
Grape. Vitis. 
Petals 5, cohering slightly at the top while they separate at the base, and generally thrown off with- 
out expanding. Berry with 4 bony seeds. Leaves lobed. Flowers polygamous in the wild species, 
and having the fragrance of Mignonette. 
